Thursday, September 26, 2013

M83 & Phantogram @ Hollywood Bowl - 9/22/13

Before Sunday night, I had only previously seen M83 twice but both times were at festivals (Coachella 2012 & FYF Fest 2012) &, due to my usual music festival ADD, I only saw a few songs of each set. For that reason, I initially didn't think I absolutely NEEDED to see M83 again at Hollywood Bowl on 9/22 because I thought, "I've already seen them a couple times!". Luckily, as the date of the show drew closer, I reminded myself catching a portion of a festival set versus giving a full headlining set my undivided attention are 2 very different things. Plus, 1 of my favorite new bands of the last few years, Phantogram, was opening for M83 so, in the end, I was compelled to seek out a pair of last minute tickets to Sunday night's Hollywood Bowl show. It was a good call because both Phantogram & M83 brought their A-game & blew the Bowl crowd away.

Phantogram debuted a bunch of new material & I loved all of it! Sarah Barthel looked stunning in a long, flowing, silky black dress with a very high & sexy slit up 1 leg. I've had a girl crush on Sarah ever since I chatted & took a photo with her after seeing Phantogram perform live for my very 1st time at Troubadour in LA on 4/30/10. My admiration of Sarah was fully renewed on Sunday night while watching her dominate the Bowl's stage with her infectious energy, beautiful vocals & hot new look.

Then, M83's performance with The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra accompaniment took things to whole new level. Every single minute was absolutely BEAUTIFUL & awe-inspiring. Now that I've seen a proper, full-length M83 show, I can wholeheartedly insist that EVERYONE see M83 live at some point. As George so simply & accurately put it, "M83 was life changing."

Many thanks to my friend Lindsey Fisher (who was visiting from Kansas City last weekend) for the sweet photos of hers I "borrowed" for this post! I took 2 myself but the rest are all Lindsey. She has such a nice camera & always gets the best shots!